Phillies' top draft pick survives medical scare

Pitcher Shane Watson was just days away from going into a diabetic coma.

Shane Wason, a right-hander, was selected by the Phillies right out of Lakewood… (PHILLY.COM )

October 26, 2012|By Mandy Housenick, Of The Morning Call

As Shane Watson tried to eye the ball coming at him during a routine game of catch with a teammate in July, he could barely keep it in focus.

The blurred vision and dizziness that initially were inconveniences started interfering with everything he did, and when it invaded his baseball life, he really started to worry. Those symptoms were accompanied by a 32-pound weight loss, frequent urination, tingling in his hands and feet and vomiting at least twice a day.

"I was feeling really, really bad, but I was trying to tough it out and do my running and play catch like normal and toughen up," Watson said.

Easier said than done for Watson, who a month earlier was the Phillies' first-round draft pick. The right-handed pitcher, taken right out of Lakewood High School in California, was signed a few days after the draft and reportedly received a bonus of $1.29 million.

Things got so bad for Watson during a regular workout that his coaches with the Gulf Coast League Phillies sent him home. He went to his hotel and almost immediately fell asleep.

When he woke up, his dad and brother, who had just that day arrived for a visit, insisted they take him to the hospital. The doctor took one look at his tongue and lips and said he was certain Watson was a Type 1 diabetic. The doctor did a blood test to be sure, but it really was just a formality.

When the reading came back, it just said, "High," Watson said.

"When that happens, it means your blood-glucose level is over 600, and that's really high. A reading of 85-120 is normal.

"The doctor said I was about five days away from being in a coma. When I got that insulin, I felt 10 times better immediately."

The news came as quite a shock to Watson, who doesn't have any immediate family members with the disease. But he knows his diagnosis could have been worse.

"I was most thankful to not have something more serious," he said. "I'm so glad it wasn't cancer or something where you can't play baseball."

Watson, now 19, went home that day armed with needles, syringes, insulin, glucose tablets and a blood sugar reader. It also marked the beginning of the education he's been getting about diabetes and how he has to manage a disease, that if not treated properly, can cause blindness, force the amputation of body parts, particularly toes and feet and at its worst, cause premature death.

In the last 21/2 months, Watson has started to understand the importance of testing his blood sugar right before and two hours after he eats and works out. A regular day has him checking it eight times.

"It's a real life change for me," he admitted. "I want to know what every meal does to me and how many carbs I have to intake and then take enough insulin to cover those carbs. There's math in it too, and I don't like math at all."

To take away that burden, Watson is in the process of getting an insulin pump, a small, computerized device that can be attached to a belt or placed in a pocket. It delivers insulin 24-hours a day via a catheter (a tiny, flexible tube) inserted under the skin in a fatty section of the body.

The pump is especially beneficial for athletes. The more someone works out and sweats, the more their blood sugar levels can fluctuate.

"I won't have to worry as much about testing myself," he said. "When I was in Florida, and [this happened] it was hard for me and it reminded me how I can't work out and eat like a normal person. I got a little emotional about that."

Almost as quickly as Watson's levels went dangerously high, they returned to normal. Within just a few days, he started working out again with his team and got into the routine of testing his blood sugar and giving himself injections, sometimes as many as eight a day.

Watson also got back to a healthier weight. After the 6-foot-4 Watson had dropped to a mere 173 pounds, he climbed back up to 205 pounds. He now carries glucose tablets with him in case he feels queasy. For more dire circumstances, he has an emergency shot with him at all times for someone else to administer in case he passes out.

And there's one more thing in his survival kit.

"I always have Skittles with me," he said.

On Aug. 3, Watson pitched in his first game with the Gulf Coast League Phillies. Before their season ended, he threw in four more games. In a total of 7 innings, he allowed only one earned run (1.29 ERA), five hits and one walk. He struck out eight.

Watson was then one of 52 Phillies who attended the club's instructional league from Sept. 24 to Oct. 12. By the time that camp ended, Joe Jordan, the Phillies director of scouting who was instrumental in drafting Watson, said you couldn't even tell that Watson had been through such a traumatic ordeal.

"At the end, he was our best pitcher in camp," Jordan said. "He physically looked great. In his last outing, he threw 25 pitches in three innings, and it was over before we knew it.

"He can manage this," Jordan added of the diabetes. "But we had to find out what it was and get his levels where they need to be. It's an educational process first."

Watson knows there's no cure for diabetes and understands he'll need medication for the rest of his life. Nothing for him will ever quite be the same.

But he won't let it get in the way of his dream of playing in the big leagues.

"I'm pretty religious," he said. "I believe if something bad happens to me, God has a meaning for it. I'm more thankful because it could be something worse. I never really felt sorry for myself with it. Never thought of it like that."